WL//WH: Loud Cities’ Mike D Favourite Musings Of 2023

Loud Cities’ Mike Favourite Musings of 2023

As every year, this year too the WL//WH editorial team presents their favorite albums for 2023. Here you will find all those who made the Loud Cities radio show more interesting and our Webzine more exciting since many of these albums were reviewed by me in the past 12 months. Press Play!

GUINÆPIG – “Incongruous” LP [TONN Recordings]

The fascinating new album “Incongruous” by electronic music craftsman Guinaepig aka Balázs Tamoga (N.Y.) came out on January 12 through TONN RECORDINGS (Belfast)…a skilled synthesized craftsman with a unique innate musicality and plenty of grooves in his creations that are always noteworthy and peculiar.

KARMA VOYAGE – “Lights In Forgotten Places” LP [Icy Cold Records]

Karma Voyage crafts the perfect blend of neo-psych rock, with post-wave oriented arrangements, and the shoegaze technique and adoration being in there and at times not so discreet but in the face – groovy, melodic, and with clear instructions on how to navigate their ship.

BOSCO SACRO – “GEM” LP [Avantgarde Music]

Bosco Sacro weaves doomgaze ‘stories’ through shoegaze and experimental sounds all put on the endless rails to post-rock destinatios.

KILL SHELTER & DEATH LOVES VERONICA – “The Sex Tape Sessions” EP [Cold Transmission Music]

“The Sex Tape Sessions” is a commentary on the artistic process and the commodification of personality in music…a thundering collaboration between Kill Shelter (UK) and Death Loves Veronica (USA).

GIVE UP TO FAILURE – “Cocoon” LP [Requiem Records]

…10 new songs that are state-of-the-art post-rock/anthemic shoegaze music.

ASSASSUN – “Chronic Quicksand Depression Morning” LP [Blackjack Illuminist Records]

A mechanical, motorik soundscape that can easily throw you to the dancefloor of your house or the meadow of your haunt, with music and lyrics that narrate our angelic and beautiful modern world…

BOUND BY ENDOGAMY – “Six Cauchemars D’une Machine Fêlée” EP [Dead Channel Records]

Their music is brutal, sweet at times, protest, wild, dystopian, squatter, minimal wave, new beat, and as Dead Channel Records quote about it: “this utterly singular release is a take-no-prisoners, in-your-face, punk future-classic.”

HEALTHYLIVING – “Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief” LP [Self-Released]

Everything here sounds like a mystical blend of post-metal, doom-metal, and occasional noise rock, while all the shoegazers will relate to their sound and the linear and oblong gtr-paths at times.

CATALOGUE – “Modern Delusion” LP [Crapoulet Rds / HVIV / Assos’y’Song]

The band plays actual old-school Post-punk music in the initial DIY style and as you can understand all this can easily knock you down with a clear Punk punch where it will hurt…you. In other words; I love this album.

LUNAR TWIN – “Aurora” LP [Tropical Depression Records]

The entire “Aurora” album is all about wonderful dream wave music in the likes of brooding electronica, cosmopolitan downtempo, and Tropical noir.

A CLOUD OF RAVENS – “Lost Hymns” LP [Nexilis Records/Schubert Music Europe]

Eleven triumphant new songs of the highest Post-punk music quality, all under the wings of Gothic Rock, and with the whole situation addressing the international darkwave realm.

GREY GALLOWS – “Strangers” LP [Cold Transmission Music]

When there are such works on the shelves, the many words are somehow unnecessary as the art itself traps you in it offering priceless gems and thrills.

AGENT SIDE GRINDER – “Jack Vegas” LP [Progress Productions]

Jack Vegas LP marks the band’s first exploration of American culture, drawing heavily on the beatnik-era works of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, as well as the proto-punk and avant-garde movements – while maintaining a contemporary storytelling perspective…The name Jack Vegas’ is derived from a Swedish chain of low-stakes slot machines.

THE BELLWETHER SYNDICATE – “Vestige & Vigil” LP [Sett Records]

I could write, and write, and write more and more about it but names like TBS are like a warranty to a brighter dark future…“Vestige & Vigil” LP is already out since spring 2023 (P.S.: the album is stunning)!!!

MERCYLANE – “Mayday” EP [Self-Released]

On June 27, MERCYLANE from Arizona self-released their new opus “Mayday” EP with 4 new songs that span from the music of the deserts to the alt-country realm and on toward the gothic folk shelter.

THIS IS THE BRIDGE – “New English Pastoral” LP [Self-Released]

This Is The Bridge (London) began in 2013, exploring a ‘primitive electronic’ DIY sound using mainly analog synthesizers. We know him well and he knows us too. In his brand new album “New English Pastoral”, released July 16, he mainly explores other urban sonic scapes but still in the likes of the coldwave, synthpunk, and minimal (huge) waves.

THE UNDERGROUND YOUTH – “Nostalgia’s Glass” LP [Fuzz Club Records]

(July 2023)…I must simply say that I can’t wait for another few days until we can enjoy the new work by one of the most cult and talented and amazing and all, bands in Europe…

OHNE NOMEN – “The S-Witch” LP [Cold Transmission Music]

The outcome is a truly remarkable new album consisting of 11 songs with the most captivating and mysterious vibes, all in the likes of the dying-on-the-dancefloor music.

FLUID GHOST – “Submission Deluxe” LP [Mother Solitude Records]

The new album is a thorough and sonorous escapade to the precious fields of dark alternative electronic music, it is a feast with grooves and a party of emotions, all seductive and so lustful with heavy pounding, sharp basslines, the lively snare spanking all, a lot of struggle by the electronic machines, and by all means the darkwave kiss in every single song of the album, put in the discreet post-punk veil in many incidents of the album and here you have it; the bare electro EBM oriented carnival.

NO + ANA – “S/T” LP [TONN Recordings]

The album features 7 songs with a cold wave, to-die-for, and unstoppable dance vibe that will have you hitting repeat. Include aesthetic criteria and sound standards from Belfast label for an amazing minimal-synth, Cold Wave album.

POLICE DES MOEURS – “Sauvetage” EP [Electronic Emergencies]

I heard a blend of ‘abyssal’ synths and crunchy beats, with synthetic sounds layered over steady rails. Strange melodies dominated the tracks, with a commanding voice leading the music. All I heard at the end is an utterly complete new work by this amazing act and everything is accurately measured and correct without obscuring the experimental approach to all things Police Des Moeurs.

SHAD SHADOWS – “Assault” LP [Self-Released]

I noticed that “Assault” LP has incorporated new emotions and elements into their music, which compelled me to revisit the Shadows’ older releases and upon that comparison with their previous works, I am thrilled to hear about their progress and their newfound ‘passions’; a bit more minimal, a bit more pounding, a bit darker and a bit brighter too!

ANDY OPPENHEIMER & CRYSTALLINE STRICTURE – “Songs From A Constellation” LP [TONN Recordings]

…music has the power to transport the listener on an incredible journey through circuits, knobs, synthesizers, and vocals that describe a story in a robotic-wise manner. However, when two talented musicians as such collaborate, the result is an impressive album from start to finish, and the record label is fully aware of this fact. I would describe the album as alternative astral electro-pop music.

WEMPUSA – “Hæresis” EP [Self-Released]

Wempusa weaves doomgaze music as adored in the tribe of the ‘crestfallen’ but with a few peculiar hints; yes it is all doom, but with some gothic blows too while flirting with the occasional heavy grunge dust. Also, put in their talent in creating riffs and melodies and refrains that stick to the mind, and add one very serious chanteuse at the front and you have a simply stunning result.

SCORPION TEA – “S/T” LP [GIVE/TAKE]

The album is a merciless deathrock masterpiece, with crazy songs that make it seem easy for the band to create with such an aesthetic level of performance and sound production. However, it’s not easy to release such a record, and the group’s abilities are truly remarkable. I won’t say more, I won’t try to convince you more about the value of this album because I know that 90% of you when you see the ‘deathrock’ indication get an urge to get in immediately and enjoy YOUR punk music from the grave.

MELODY FIELDS – “1901 LP” + “1991” LP [Coop Records / Nudie Records]

Well, I don’t know why and don’t know how Melody Fields from Gothenburg, Sweden, decided to release (almost simultaneously) two albums together, but one thing is certain now; when records like these are brought together, they create a more complete and global effect as the band’s proposition is a very colorful and groovy psychedelic rock music. Why wait for the next album when it’s already there?

AUTOGRAMM – “Music That Humans Can Play” LP [Stomp Records / Beluga Records]

You know, they touch on issues with a bittersweet style, these things that have happened to me and you and all, these things that may bring laughter or pain, some uncomfortable/ awkward life situations that may leave a mark or not, but Autogramm are not really mocking anything, I guess life itself is often clownish.

SUN’S SPECTRUM– “The Silence After The Fall” LP [Cold Transmission Music]

The album contains 10 fantastic songs that incorporate a variety of musical references as the band from Udine has made an awe-inspiring record imagining the modern continuum of darkwave music.